Pilobolus!

Yesterday, we drove north to Bellingham for a performance by the Pilobolus Dance Theatre. Now, what I know about modern dance would fit in George Bush's brain with room to spare. So, I won't even attempt a serious critique here except to say that I, who would normally flee from any kind of dance as if it were an opera bearing down on the gang from Cheers, was utterly mesmerized. Let's just say that Pilobolus is a harmonic convergence of the genius of the dancers with the genius of the artistic directors. The company performed five dances of one to six dancers, including this duet called "Symbiosis:"

You can watch three of the other four performances on the Pilobolus web site under Menu > Works > Active Repertoire. The dances are called "Rushes," Pseudopodia," and "Day Two". If you get a chance to see Pilobolus, don't pass it up...

If there's one thing Americans -- regardless of political persuasion and anything else -- it's a politician who doesn't pay his taxes. It's not like Tom Daschle was the first, but his Olympian disregard for the consequences of his behavior for health care reform is the height of arrogance. From what I've read, Daschle is not a cheat. But he is a politician and he well knows the game. How, then, could he not inform the transition team that this problem lurked? Had he been up front, the issue might have been settled to everyone's satisfaction, and President Obama's first choice to lead health care reform might be in the cabinet...

How about Dr. Howard Dean to replace Daschle?...

Don Parker has reason to believe that the pope will move to canonize Grand Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada...

The Krewe du Vieux stimulus package, feauring "Investments in Stocks and Bondage"...

Thanks to Renegade Eye for turning me on to Pilobolus...

The Coldest Winter, Continued

As I read more of  David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter, I'm struck by the parallels between Korea and Iraq, especially the events surrounding Douglas MacArthur's disastrous decision to invade North Korea and push to the Manchurian border. This brought the Chinese into the war and created the bloody stalemate fought out for more than three years.

• Republican politicians taunted Democrats as appeasers
• Americans by and large believed that the Chinese people wanted nothing so much as to live in an American-style democracy. (In fact, the Chinese generally regarded Americans as part of the western colonialism that had exploited their nation for over a hundred years.)
• American politicians backed Chiang Kai-Shek, whom -- like Chalabi in Iraq -- they mistakenly believed to represent the mass of Chinese people
• MacArthur's desire to invade the north and his certainty that the Chinese would not intervene resulted in cooked intelligence to support his position
• The utter failure of American decision-makers in both parties to understand the nature of their Communist adversaries in Moscow and Beijing, who were motivated as much or more by nationalism than ideology

Halberstam also digs up the roots of post-War conservative foreign policy. It was driven, of course, by a rabid anti-Communism coupled with a by-and-large successful effort to paint Democrats as soft appeasers. It's a fascinating look at a political movement that has become hoist on its own petard. 

Modern conservatives have attempted to redirect the politics of fear against terrorists and immigrants, but it has proved self-defeating: Hispanic voters turned against Republicans, and the application of militarism has failed dismally in Iraq and Afghanistan. The door is open to the enlightened internationalism advocated by Barack Obama...

Hendrik Hertzberg ("...a real jerk," sez Newtie) flays Bill-o wide open and leaves him out to dry in the hot sun...

Mesmerizing, Brilliant, and Beautiful Dept: Don't miss this incredible performance by the Pilobolus Dance Theatre on Renegade Eye's blog. The sequence between 4:30 and 6:00 especially blew my mind, but the entire dance is a wonder...